Le Guin and Murakami’s iahklu
Just finished Guin’s Lathe of Heaven and the final third took a considerably different turn than I expected. Suddenly we were out of the lab and in….a vintage store? Once the Beatles album came on I half expected Le Guin to take Orr to a Portland jazz bar and have him drink with the different versions of Lelache or meet an Alien called The Rat.
I’ve usually struggled with Murakami’s work, choosing to experience them mostly through audiobook or reading them during lull periods in holiday or work shifts. As such I tended to treat the Rat books as more of a “vibe” than a deeper text to understand. By the time I finished the Sheep novels I was content with chalking it all up as Murakami’s dreams.
I think I expected Le Guin to not do that with LoH and explore all those philosophical excerpts she included…but by the end it just felt like those bar scenes with the Rat in early Murakami.
Anyone had a similar experience or advice on how to unpack the ending of Lathe?
Sidenote: I returned to Vineland by Pynchon earlier this year following the PTA adaptation, and all of Le Guin’s wonderful descriptions of Portland and technology felt similar to Pynchon, with his Redwood descriptions and alien spacecraft. I can’t help but think her focus on the flippers of the Aliens would be something Pynchon would have fun with.